Light emitting diode and method for manufacturing the same

ABSTRACT

A light emitting device includes a substrate having a top surface and an bottom surface and a light emitting structure on the substrate, disposed closer to the substrate top surface than the substrate bottom surface, having an n-type conductive type semiconductor layer, a p-type conductive type semiconductor layer, and an active layer. The light emitting device also includes a transparent electrode layer, a first electrode, and a second electrode. The substrate has side surfaces extending from the substrate bottom surface to the substrate top surface, the side surfaces inclined outwardly as the substrate extends in a direction from the substrate bottom surface to the substrate top surface. The transparent electrode layer overlaps more than 50% of a total area of the substrate bottom surface, and a part of light generated by the light emitting structure is emitted to outside via the transparent electrode layer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 13/308,146 filed on Nov. 30, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/438,808 filed on Feb. 25, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,404,566, issued Mar. 26, 2013, which is the national phase of PCT international Application No. PCT/KR2007/004587 filed on Sep. 20, 2007, and which claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0092732 filed on Sep. 25, 2006. The entire contents of all of the above applications are hereby incorporated by reference.

DESCRIPTION

1. Technical Field

Embodiments relate to a light emitting diode and a method for manufacturing the same.

2. Background Art

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are manufactured through a scribing process of separating a plurality of unit chips after forming a compound semiconductor on the substrate.

The scribing process is to irradiate laser onto a substrate or a compound semiconductor. The substrate or the compound semiconductor, which is adjacent to a scribing region irradiated with the laser, may be damaged during the laser irradiation.

A portion of light generated from an active layer of the LED is emitted to the outside through the scribing region. However, it is difficult for light to pass through a portion of the substrate or the compound semiconductor damaged by the laser, which degrades light efficiency of the LED after all.

DISCLOSURE

Technical Problem

Embodiments provide a light emitting diode (LED) and a method for manufacturing the same.

Embodiments provide an LED with improved light efficiency and a method for manufacturing the same.

Technical Solution

An embodiment provides a method for manufacturing a light emitting diode (LED), comprising: forming a semiconductor layer; forming a mask layer on the semiconductor layer; irradiating laser onto a scribing region of the mask layer to divide the semiconductor layer into a plurality of light emitting diodes; etching the scribing region; removing the mask layer; and separating the plurality of light emitting diodes.

An embodiment provides a method for manufacturing a light emitting diode, comprising: forming a semiconductor layer on a substrate; forming a mask layer on the semiconductor layer; irradiating laser onto a scribing region of the substrate to divide the substrate into a plurality of light emitting diodes; etching the scribing region; removing the mask layer; and separating the plurality of light emitting diodes.

An embodiment provides a light emitting diode comprising: a substrate; a semiconductor layer on the substrate; and an electrode on the semiconductor layer, wherein the substrate or the semiconductor layer has at least one etched side surface having a predetermined tilt angle.

The details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

Advantageous Effects

Embodiments can provide a light emitting diode (LED) and a method for manufacturing the same.

Embodiments can provide an LED with improved light efficiency and a method for manufacturing the same.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 to 6 are sectional views illustrating a light emitting diode (LED) and a method for manufacturing the same according to a first embodiment.

FIGS. 7 to 11 are sectional views illustrating an LED and a method for manufacturing the same according to a second embodiment.

MODE FOR INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to a light emitting diode (LED) and a method for manufacturing the same, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 6 are sectional views illustrating an LED and a method for manufacturing the same according to a first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a semiconductor layer 20, a first electrode 31 and a second electrode 41 are formed on a substrate 10 so as to form an LED.

The substrate 10 may include, for example, a sapphire substrate. The semiconductor layer 20 has a multi-stacked structure of a compound semiconductor, which will be more fully described in FIG. 6 later.

A portion of the semiconductor layer 20 may be selectively etched, and the first electrode 31 is formed on an etched portion of the semiconductor layer 20. Accordingly, heights of the first and second electrodes 31 and 41 differ from each other even though they are formed on the same semiconductor layer 20.

The embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 6 illustrates sectional views for convenience in description, which illustrate processes of forming first, second and third LEDs 51, 52 and 53.

Referring to FIG. 2, a mask layer 60 is formed on the semiconductor layer 20, the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 41.

The mask layer 60 protects the semiconductor layer 20 during a scribing process, and is formed of a material which can be wet-etched or dry-etched. A material for used in the mask layer 60 will be described in detail later.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 61 denotes a scribing region. In this embodiment, laser is irradiated onto the scribing region 61 using a laser irradiation apparatus, thus dividing the semiconductor layer 20 into the first, second and third LEDs 51, 52 and 53.

Referring to FIG. 3, when the laser is irradiated onto the scribing region 61, the mask layer 60, the semiconductor layer 20 and the substrate 10 in the scribing region 61 are removed.

During laser irradiation, the layers in the scribing region 61 onto which the laser is irradiated are damaged, causing a damaged region 12 with a rugged surface to be formed, as illustrated in FIG. 3.

The light emitted from the active layer of the LED does not pass through but is absorbed at the damaged region 12, and thus the damaged region 12 is removed so as to improve light efficiency of the LED in this embodiment.

The removal of the damaged region 12 may be performed using wet etching or dry etching process.

The wet etching process is performed using a first etchant including at least one of hydrochloric acid (HCl), nitric acid (HNO₃), potassium hydroxide (KOH), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄), phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) and aluetch (4H₃PO₄+4CH₃COOH+HNO₃). A temperature of the first etchant is between 200° C. and 400° C.

The mask layer 60 prevents the semiconductor layer 20 from being etched during the etching of the damaged region 12. The mask layer 60 may be formed of, for example, silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) or an oxide-based material such as silicon oxide (SiO₂), which is hardly etched by the first etchant.

That is, the first etchant has a higher etch selectivity to the damaged region 12 than to the mask layer 60.

Since the mask layer 60 is hardly etched by the first etchant, the damaged region 12 can be selectively etched while minimizing the etch amount of the semiconductor layer 20.

The dry etching may be performed through an inductively coupled plasma/reactive ions etcher (ICP/RIE) or an RIE. In addition, the dry etching may be performed using a first etching gas including at least one of BCl₃, Cl₂, HBr and Ar.

The mask layer 60 configured to prevent the semiconductor layer 20 from being etched during the etching of the damaged region 12 may be formed of an oxide-based material such as SiO₂, TiO₂ and ITO or a metallic material such as Cr, Ti, Al, Au, Ni and Pt, which is hardly etched by the first etching gas.

That is, the first etching gas has a higher etch selectivity to the damaged region 12 than to the mask layer 60.

The wet etching and the dry etching may be performed for several minutes to several tens of minutes depending on etching environments. FIG. 4 illustrates that the damaged region 12 of the scribing region 61 is removed.

Referring to FIG. 5, the mask layer 60 formed on the semiconductor layer 20 is removed after the removal of the damaged region 12.

The removal of the mask layer 60 may be performed using at least one of the wet etching and the dry etching.

For example, the mask layer 60 is removed through the wet etching using a second etchant including at least one of buffer oxide etchant (BOE) or hydrofluoric acid (HF).

Because the semiconductor layer 20 is hardly etched by the second etchant, the mask layer 60 can be selectively etched while minimizing the etch amount of the semiconductor layer 20.

That is, the second etchant has a higher etch selectivity to the mask layer 60 than to the semiconductor layer 20.

For example, the mask layer 60 is removed through the dry etching using a second etching gas including at least one of O₂ and CF₄.

The mask layer 60 can be selectively etched while minimizing the etch amount of the semiconductor layer 20 because the semiconductor layer 20 is hardly etched by the second etching gas.

That is, the second etching gas has a higher etch selectivity to the mask layer 60 than to the semiconductor layer 20.

Thereafter, a physical impact is applied to the substrate 10 and the semiconductor layer 20, so that the first LED 51, the second LED 52 and the third LED 53 are separated from each other by the scribing region 61.

A lapping process may be performed to reduce the thickness of the substrate 10 before applying the physical impact to the substrate 10 and the semiconductor layer 20. The lapping process may be performed through at least one process of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), dry etching, wet etching and mechanical polishing using slurry.

FIG. 6 illustrates the first LED 51 separated by the scribing region.

The first LED 51 includes the semiconductor layer 20, the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 41 which are formed over the substrate 10.

The semiconductor layer 20 includes a buffer layer 21, an n-type semiconductor layer 22, an active layer 23, a p-type semiconductor layer 24 and a transparent electrode layer 25.

The buffer layer 21 relieves stress between the substrate 10 and the n-type semiconductor layer 22 and enables the semiconductor layer to easily grow. The buffer layer 21 may have at least one structure of AlInN/GaN, In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N/GaN and Al_(x)In_(y)Ga_(1-x-y)N/In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N/GaN.

The n-type semiconductor layer 22 may include a GaN layer doped with silicon, and may be formed by supplying silane gas containing n-type dopant such as NH₃, trimethylgallium (TMGa) and Si.

The active layer 23 may have a single-quantum well or a multi-quantum well (MQW) structure formed of InGaN/GaN. The p-type semiconductor layer 24 may be formed of trimethylaluminum (TMAl), bis(ethylcyclopentadienyl)magnesium (EtCp2Mg), or ammonia (NH₃).

The transparent electrode layer 25 is formed of a material such as ITO, ZnO, RuOx, TiOx and IrOx. The first electrode 31 may be formed of titanium (Ti) and the second electrode 41 may be formed of a metallic material such as nickel (Ni).

The first LED 51 emits light from the active layer 23 when a power is supplied to the first and second electrodes 31 and 41.

In FIG. 6, a point light source 70 is exemplarily illustrated. A portion of the light emitted from the point light source 70 is reflected by the substrate 10 and emitted to the outside through sides of the first LED 51.

Since the damaged region 12 on the sides of the first LED 51 has been removed through the wet etching or the dry etching, the light is scarcely absorbed at the sides of the first LED 51, and thus it is possible to effectively emit the light to the outside.

FIGS. 7 to 11 are sectional views illustrating an LED and a method for manufacturing the same according to a second embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 7, a semiconductor layer 20, a first electrode 31 and a second electrode 41 are formed on a substrate 10 so as to form an LED. In addition, a mask layer 60 and a support member 80 are formed on the semiconductor layer and the first and second electrodes 31 and 41.

The substrate 10 may include, for example, a sapphire substrate. The semiconductor layer 20 has a multi-stacked structure of a compound semiconductor.

A portion of the semiconductor layer 20 may be selectively etched, and the first electrode 31 is formed on the etched portion of semiconductor layer 20. Accordingly, heights of the first and second electrodes 31 and 41 differ from each other even though they are formed on the same semiconductor layer 20.

The embodiment of FIGS. 7 to 11 illustrates sectional views for convenience in description, which illustrate processes of forming first, second and third LEDs 51, 52 and 53.

The mask layer 60 protects the semiconductor layer 20 during a scribing process, and is formed of a material which can be wet-etched or dry-etched.

The support member 80 prevents damages of the first, second and third LEDs 51, 52 and 53 which may be caused by a physical force applied to the first, second and third LEDs 51, 52 and 53 while laser is irradiated onto the substrate 10 using a laser irradiation apparatus and then the damaged region of the substrate 10 due to the laser irradiation is removed by wet or dry etching.

Further, the support member 80 prevents the separation of the first, second and third LEDs 51, 52 and 53 caused by external impact before a process of separating the first, second and third LEDs 51, 52 and 53 is completed.

The support member 80 may be formed of at least one of an adhesive tape, a material which can be wet-etched or dry-etched, a metallic material and a wafer substrate.

The support member 80 may be selectively formed depending on thicknesses of the substrate 10 and the semiconductor layer 20. Thus, the support member 80 may be omitted.

In FIG. 7, reference numeral 11 denotes a scribing region. In second embodiment, laser is irradiated onto the scribing region 11 using a laser irradiation apparatus, thus dividing the substrate 10 into the first, second and third LEDs 51, 52 and 53.

A lapping process may be performed to reduce the thickness of the substrate 10 before irradiating the laser onto the scribing region 11. The lapping process may be performed through at least one process of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), dry etching, wet etching and mechanical polishing using slurry.

Referring to FIG. 8, when the laser is irradiated onto the scribing region 11, the substrate 10 of the scribing region 11 is selectively removed.

During laser irradiation, the layers in the scribing region 11 onto which the laser is irradiated are damaged, causing a damaged region 12 with a rugged surface to be formed, as illustrated in FIG. 8.

The light emitted from the active layer of the LED does not pass through but is absorbed at the damaged region 12, and thus the damaged region 12 is removed so as to improve light efficiency of the LED in this embodiment.

The removal of the damaged region 12 may be performed using a wet etching or dry etching process.

The wet etching process may be performed using a first etchant including at least one of hydrochloric acid (HCl), nitric acid (HNO₃), potassium hydroxide (KOH), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄), phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) and aluetch (4H₃PO₄+4CH₃COOH+HNO₃). A temperature of the first etchant is between 200° C. and 400° C.

The mask layer 60 prevents the semiconductor layer 20 from being etched during the etching of the damaged region 12. The mask layer 60 may be formed of, for example, silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) or an oxide-based material such as silicon oxide (SiO₂), which is hardly etched by the first etchant.

Since the mask layer 60 is hardly etched by the first etchant, the damaged region 12 can be selectively etched while minimizing the etch amount of the semiconductor layer 20.

The dry etching may be performed using an ICP/RIE or an RIE. In addition, the dry etching may be performed using a first etching gas including at least one of BCl₃, Cl₂, HBr and Ar.

The mask layer 60 configured to prevent the semiconductor layer 20 from being etched during the etching of the damaged region 12 may be formed of an oxide-based material such as SiO₂, TiO₂ and ITO or a metallic material such as Cr, Ti, Al, Au, Ni and Pt, which is hardly etched by the first etching gas.

The wet etching and the dry etching may be performed for several minutes to several tens of minutes depending on etching environments. FIG. 9 illustrates that the damaged region 12 of the scribing region 11 is removed.

Referring to FIG. 9, the mask layer 60 and the support member 80 formed on the semiconductor layer 20 are removed after the removal of the damaged region 12.

The support member 80 may be differently removed depending on kinds of the support member 80. For example, the support member 80 formed of adhesive tape is removed by detaching it, whereas the support member 80 formed of an etchable material is removed by etching process.

The removal of the mask layer 60 may be performed using at least one method of the wet etching and the dry etching.

For example, the mask layer 60 is removed through the wet etching process using a second etchant including at least one of buffer oxide etchant (BOE) or hydrofluoric acid (HF).

Because the semiconductor layer 20 is hardly etched by the second etchant, the mask layer 60 can be selectively etched while minimizing the etch amount of the semiconductor layer 20.

For example, the mask layer 60 is removed by the dry etching using a second etching gas including at least one of O₂ and CF₄.

The mask layer 60 can be selectively etched while minimizing the etch amount of the semiconductor layer 20 because the semiconductor layer 20 is hardly etched by the second etching gas.

Thereafter, a physical impact is applied to the substrate 10 and the semiconductor layer 20, and thus the first LED 51, the second LED 52 and the third LED 53 are separated from each other by the scribing region 11.

FIG. 11 illustrates the first LED 51 separated by the scribing region 11.

The first LED 51 includes the semiconductor layer 20, the first electrode 31 and the second electrode 41 which are formed over the substrate 10.

The semiconductor layer 20 includes a buffer layer 21, an n-type semiconductor layer 22, an active layer 23, a p-type semiconductor layer 24 and a transparent electrode layer 25.

The buffer layer 21 relieves stress between the substrate 10 and the n-type semiconductor layer 22 and enables the semiconductor layer to easily grow. The buffer layer 21 may have at least one structure of AlInN/GaN, In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N/GaN and Al_(x)In_(y)Ga_(1-x-y)N/In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N/GaN.

The n-type semiconductor layer 22 may include a GaN layer doped with silicon, and may be formed by supplying silane gas containing n-type dopant such as NH₃, TMGa and Si.

The active layer 23 may have a single-quantum well or a multi-quantum well (MQW) structure formed of InGaN/GaN. The p-type semiconductor layer 24 may be formed of trimethylaluminum (TMAL), bis(ethylcyclopentadienyl)magnesium (EtCp2Mg), or ammonia (NH₃).

The transparent electrode layer is formed of a material such as ITO, ZnO, RuOx, TiOx and IrOx. The first electrode 31 may be formed of titanium (Ti) and the second electrode 41 may be formed of a metallic material such as nickel (Ni).

The first LED 51 emits light from the active layer 23 when a power is supplied to the first and second electrodes 31 and 41.

In FIG. 11, a point light source 70 is exemplarily illustrated. A portion of the light emitted from the point light source 70 is reflected by the substrate 10 and emitted to the outside through sides of the first LED 51.

In the LED and the method for manufacturing the same according to the embodiments, the LED having a PN junction is described, which includes the n-type semiconductor layer, the active layer and the p-type semiconductor layer. However, a chip separation process according to the embodiments is also available for an LED having a NPN junction where an n-type semiconductor layer, an active layer, a p-type semiconductor layer and an n-type semiconductor layer are stacked in sequence.

Further, in the LED and the method for manufacturing the same according to the embodiments, the chip separation process of an LED having a horizontal configuration is described, in which the first electrode is formed on the n-type semiconductor layer and the second electrode is formed on the p-type semiconductor layer after the p-type semiconductor layer, the active layer and the n-type semiconductor layer are partially removed.

However, the chip separation process is also available for an LED having a vertical configuration in which the substrate including a conductive substrate, the first electrode, the n-type semiconductor layer, the active layer, the p-type semiconductor layer and the second electrode are sequentially formed. That is, the first electrode is formed between the semiconductor layer and the substrate and the second electrode is formed on the semiconductor layer, respectively.

Any reference in this specification to “a first embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “example embodiment,” etc., means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of such phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with any embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the purview of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other ones of the embodiments.

Also, it will be understood that when an element is referred to as being ‘on’ or ‘under’ another element, it can be directly on/under the element, and one or more intervening elements may also be present.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

A light emitting diode (LED) and a method for manufacturing the same according to the embodiments can be applied to a separation process of LEDs having a variety of structures. 

What is claimed:
 1. A light emitting device comprising: a substrate comprising a top surface and an bottom surface; a light emitting structure on the substrate, disposing closer to the substrate top surface than the substrate bottom surface, and comprising an n-type conductive type semiconductor layer, a p-type conductive type semiconductor layer on the n-type conductive type semiconductor layer, and an active layer between the n-type and p-type conductive type semiconductor layers; a transparent electrode layer on the p-type conductive type semiconductor layer; a first electrode disposed on the n-type conductive type semiconductor layer; and a second electrode disposed on and contacting to the transparent electrode layer, wherein the substrate has side surfaces extending from the substrate bottom surface to the substrate top surface, the side surfaces inclined outwardly as the substrate extends in a direction from the substrate bottom surface to the substrate top surface, wherein the transparent electrode layer overlaps more than 50% of a total area of the substrate bottom surface, and wherein a part of light generated by the light emitting structure is emitted to outside via the transparent electrode layer.
 2. The light emitting device in claim 1, wherein a width of the substrate top surface is greater than a width of the substrate bottom surface, and wherein a portion of the substrate top surface extends beyond the substrate bottom surface.
 3. The light emitting device in claim 1, wherein the active layer comprises at least one of single-quantum well and a multi-quantum well structure comprising of InGaN/GaN.
 4. The light emitting device in claim 1, wherein the n-type conductive type semiconductor layer comprises a GaN layer.
 5. The light emitting device in claim 1, the transparent electrode layer comprises at least one of ITO, ZnO, RuOx, TiOx, or IrOx.
 6. The light emitting device in claim 1, wherein the first electrode comprises titanium (Ti).
 7. The light emitting device in claim 1, wherein the second electrode comprises metallic material.
 8. The light emitting device in claim 1, wherein the second electrode comprises nickel (Ni).
 9. The light emitting device in claim 1, wherein the side surfaces include a tilt angle and a step part having an angle different from the tilt angle.
 10. The light emitting device in claim 9, wherein a length from the step part to the top surface is less than a length from the step part to the bottom surface of the substrate.
 11. The light emitting device in claim 1, wherein the substrate includes a break portion between the top surface and the bottom surface of the substrate.
 12. The light emitting device in claim 1, wherein a length of the p-type conductive type semiconductor layer is less than a length of the bottom surface of the substrate.
 13. A light emitting device, comprising: a substrate; a semiconductor layer on the substrate, the semiconductor layer comprising a first semiconductor layer, an active layer on the first semiconductor layer, and a second semiconductor layer on the active layer; a transparent electrode layer on the second semiconductor layer; a first electrode disposed on the first semiconductor layer; and a second electrode disposed on and contacting to the transparent electrode layer, wherein the substrate has at least one side surface having a predetermined tilt angle, wherein the predetermined tilt angle is an obtuse angle with respect to a bottom surface of the substrate, wherein the side surface has an inclined part with the predetermined tilt angle and a step part outwardly protruded from a top portion of the inclined part, and wherein the step part extends outwardly as the substrate extends in a direction from the bottom surface of the substrate to a top surface of the substrate.
 14. The light emitting device in claim 13, wherein the active layer comprises at least one of single-quantum well and a multi-quantum well structure comprising of InGaN/GaN.
 15. The light emitting device in claim 13, wherein the first electrode comprises titanium (Ti).
 16. The light emitting device in claim 13, wherein the first conductive type semiconductor layer comprises a GaN layer.
 17. The light emitting device in claim 13, wherein the second electrode comprises nickel (Ni).
 18. A light emitting device comprising: a growing substrate comprising a top surface and an bottom surface; a light emitting structure on the growing substrate, disposing closer to the top surface than the bottom surface, and comprising an n-type conductive type semiconductor layer, a p-type conductive type semiconductor layer on the n-type semiconductor layer, and an active layer between the n-type and p-type conductive type semiconductor layer; a transparent electrode layer on the p-type conductive type semiconductor layer; a first electrode disposed on the n-type conductive type semiconductor layer; and a second electrode disposed on and contacting to the transparent electrode layer, wherein a diagonal line from one corner to another corner of the top surface of the growing substrate is longer than a diagonal line from one corner to another corner of the bottom surface of the growing substrate, wherein the growing substrate comprises a first side surface and a second side surface, the first side surface and the second side surface having inclined surface, wherein a part of at least one of the first side surface or the second side surface of the substrate has a step part, and wherein the transparent electrode layer overlaps more than 50% of a total area of the bottom surface of the growing substrate.
 19. The light emitting device in claim 1, further comprising a buffer layer between the substrate and the n-type conductive type semiconductor layer.
 20. The light emitting device in claim 19, wherein the buffer layer comprises at least one stacked structure of AlInN/GaN, In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N/GaN, or Al_(x)In_(y)Ga_(1-x-y)N/In_(x)Ga_(1-x)N/GaN. 